Sunak draws battle line with Labour on climate policy

Tory leader Rishi Sunak revels in accusing Labour’s Keir Starmer of performing sharp turns on policy. Yet it was Sunak who this week reached for the handbrake as his government’s climate-change priorities screeched off in a new direction when he backed the expansion of North Sea oil drilling.

It was the continuation of a summer trend. Recent Tory retrenchment from green policies signals that Sunak has drawn a distinct electoral battle line between his party and Labour, which has promised no new North Sea drilling licences.

It represents a big political gamble by a prime minister desperate to reset the agenda. Last year, when he first sought to persuade Conservative Party members to back him as leader, Sunak told LBC radio that his then 9-year-old daughter, Anoushka, had just one question for him: “what are you doing for the climate, daddy?”

He said at the time that he would “continue to deliver on the [climate] agenda” that included hitting net zero emissions by 2050. Yet now he has now added a few caveats to that ambition.

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This week, in defending drilling expansion, Sunak cited energy security as being just as vital as net zero, and that is why he wants more home-produced oil and gas. He also suggested families must not face higher costs from “unnecessary” energy importation in the battle to reduce emissions to combat climate change. The cost-of-living dominates the news here.

Sunak hopes that by rowing back on some climate-focused measures he can tap into the mood of a certain segment of Middle Britain. Many British people has been annoyed in recent weeks by constant disruption from climate protests by Just Stop Oil, which has targeted big sporting events and also London traffic. Just Stop Oil’s core demand is no more licences for new oil and gas wells. Sunak’s North Sea expansion is a direct rejection of that.

If people are annoyed by the protesters does that mean they will back Sunak when he does the opposite of what the group demands? He has also signalled a rollback of policies that target vehicles, whose emissions are one of the biggest sources of carbon. “I am on their side,” he said of motorists last week.

Starmer has revived Labour’s chances of winning back power while hiding beneath the foliage of the centre ground on most policy issues. On oil drilling, and enthusiasm for climate-change policies in general, Sunak has created a clear divide between his party and the opposition.

The prime minister has gone off in a new direction. The question remains whether voters, bombarded with stories of the rampaging effects of climate change, are minded to go with him.